The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

  • Beyond Buhari’s return

    NTIL Saturday, August 19, 2017,the question was when will President Muhammadu Buhari return. The question was answered when his spokesman Femi Adesina issued a statement that he would return that day. Buhari coming home? Just like that, some one week after his media managers visited him in London without an inkling on when he will be back. Reporting on the visit after their return from London, Adesina said doctors would determine when the President would return.

    In an electronic statement, he said the President really wished to return home, but he could not without the doctors’ say so. On the visiting team were Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity,  Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu, Personal Assistant on Digital/Online Media Lauretta Onochie and Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora Matters Abike Dabiri-Erewa. According to Adesina: “When the team expressed delight at the much improved health of the President, he retorted, ‘I feel I could go home, but the doctors are in charge. I have now learnt to obey orders, rather than be obeyed”.

    That visit was on Saturday, August 12. From Adesina’s account, it was obvious that he and others did not know that the President would return home a week later. As at the time of their visit, the doctors were not ready to discharge their patient. Since in matters of that nature, doctors know best, no one can query their judgement. But if within a week of the visit, they certified him fit to go then there was nothing to fear about his health when his media team came calling. The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja bustled with activities last Saturday as the news of the President’s return spread. Travellers at both the domestic and international wings tried to catch a glimpse of the presidential movement, but it was not easy.

    Security was tight. Only authorised people were allowed on to the tarmac to receive the President. These privileged few were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, some ministers, governors and a few presidential aides. As he descended the stairs after Eagle One landed, the President looked anything but ill. There were no aides trying to help him down the stairs. He walked unaided and he betrayed no ill health. He looked hale and hearty and well rested after his 103-day medical sojourn in London. His long absence from home did not go down well with some people. They wondered why he should stay away for that long at a critical time when the country needed his leadership most. In his absence, a lot happened. Hate mongers seized the land, spewing all sorts of inanities.

    Biafra separatists led by Nnamdi Kanu threatened seccesion. Arewa youths countered by asking easterners in the north lo leave by October 1. And Boko Haram too continued to hit soft targets and wreak havoc in the Northeast. But all thanks to former Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who showed leadership the way he tackled all the issues, especially the threats of disintegration. At a series of meetings with some political, religious and traditional leaders from across the country, Prof Osinbajo stated unequivocally that the nation’s unity was non-negotiable, a fact which the President reiterated in his broadcast on Monday. The broadcast was to announce his return to work. All eyes are on him to see how he will cope with the demands of his job.  A lot of water, as they say, passed under the bridge during his over 100 days absence. The fact is Buhari means well for the country. He wants to leave a mark as the leader who saved our country from years of economic afflictions.

    But his health challenge would not allow him. There is nothing a man can do, no matter how noble his intentions are, if he is not well. A nation whose leader is ill is also ill. Buhari’s illness, whether we accept the fact or not,  is affecting us as a nation. Yes, we had an acting president, but he was hamstrung in what he could do. If he asserted himself, Buhari’s sympathisers will weigh in to accuse him of seeking the President’s job. They will conveniently forget that he is only playing his constitutionally recognised role. Being acting president is not an envious job. The acting president must watch his back always because of fault finders. Whether he does good or not, they will always find fault with him.

    This is why I pray for good health for the President. His return, as his deputy noted on Saturday following his recovery, would also lead to the recovery of the country from its myriad socio-economic problems. Buhari’s recovery will reflect on governance because there can be nothing like having the substantive president on his seat. We do not pray for a leader that is well today, ill tomorrow. We want our president to be strong for us because he represents our collective strength. If illness hobbles him, it will tie us down as a nation. I only hope that the President is strong enough to stand the rigours of office. One hopes that the Resumeorresign group did not have anything to do with his return home. Even if it did, it shows that he is sensitive to the yearnings of his people.

    The group’s daily sit-in at the Eagle Square in Abuja, demanding that he resumes or resigns shows the beauty of democracy. Without such groups, our leaders will take us for granted. With such groups, our leaders will be mindful of their responsibilities to us as they will be conscious of those who will not follow the norm. We cannot all follow the norm anyway. Welcome back, Mr President. We hope that we will not miss you for another 103 days.

  • Jonathan’s mea culpa

    If there is one topic that former President Goodluck Jonathan shies away from, it is the fight against corruption. Even when he was in office between 2010 and 2015, he could barely mention the 11-letter word. To him, it is anathema to discuss corruption the way Nigerians want it discussed. Nigerians can be emotive when talking about corruption because it is a cankerworm which has destroyed the fabric of society.

    While other countries are progressing, we are lagging because of corruption. Truly, corruption did not start with the Jonathan administration, but it was elevated under that government. Some revelations today have shown that we were lucky that the government lost the 2015 election or else, we will be in worse situation by now. Jonathan seems to have his ears to the ground going by what he said at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention in Abuja on Saturday. He hit the nail on the head when he said the talk in town is that the economy would have been worse off if the PDP had remained in power beyond 2015.

    Before the 2015 election, Nigerians had become fed up with PDP. Things were so tight for the governed, but those in power were enjoying. The painful thing is they were doing so with public funds. They were dipping their hands into the till and helping themselves to our commonwealth. As president, Jonathan was expected to call these people to order, especially his ministers, who saw their privileged position as an opportunity to steal the nation blind. Men, did they loot the treasury? You can ask that question again. What we are hearing today about funds and properties recovered from some of these former ministers would not have come to light if the Jonathan administration had remained in office till now.

    Would the government have told Nigerians about the arms funds, which its National Security Adviser (NSA) Col Sambo Dasuki managed and dispensed as he liked? Would it have told us about the millions of dollars allegedly kept in some safe houses and banks by his Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke? Would it? It won’t because all of them slept and faced the same direction. Alison-Madueke is alleging that she is being castigated for nothing because, according to her, she served the country to the best of her abilities. In a statement that has gone viral, she said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was witch-hunting her, reeling out all she did to reform the petroleum sector during her tenure. She denied that money was found in her account, saying she did not know where the EFCC got the cash from.

    To show how ‘special’ she and her ilk are, Alison-Madueke said ‘’the fight against corruption in Nigeria will be far better served if the EFCC focuses on incontrovertible facts, as opposed to media sensationalism and completely distorted stories, in their bid to demonise and destroy a few chosen Nigerians’’. Really, many are called, but only the few, who are true to their calling, are chosen. Alison-Madueke can never be among these few no matter how hard she  tries to burnish her image. It is too late in the day for that. She can only get the people’s sympathy if she comes up with hard facts on how she came by her stupendous wealth. It is all the fault of Jonathan, who once defended stealing while trying to draw a line between stealing and corruption.

    If our president could say on air that stealing is not the same thing as corruption, can he be counted on to move against his ministers if they stole? That statement emboldened his ministers to do whatever they liked with public funds since oga has said stealing is not corruption. It was a statement unbecoming of his office. It was a remark, which made us a laughing stock in the comity of nations. By speaking that way, Jonathan inadvertently endorsed graft and opened the way for  his ministers to pilfer the treasury. The message he sent to them was if una no steal na una know.

    His remarks at the PDP convention showed that he allowed corruption to thrive under him. He spoke like an accused  brought before a judge, who in his plea, said “I am guilty with explanation”. The standard practice is to plead guilty or not guilty after the charge has been read to an accused. But if the accused has something to hide, he will try to dress up his plea to, in his thinking, win the judge’s sympathy. But unknown to him, by so doing, he is shooting himself in the foot. Court: Are you guilty or not guilty? Accused : I am guilty with explanation. In law, there is nothing like guilty with explanation. Guilty is guilty.

    So,  Jonathan’s reason for not winning the corruption war is not tenable. Of his own volition, he has admitted that he is guilty as charged. The former president has told the whole world that his administration was corrupt through and through. So, where lies his claim that the Buhari administration has been hunting him and members of his family? If he could say what he said, is he not lucky that he is only being hunted and has not been hauled before the court to face trial? If an accused spoke like that in court, he would end up in jail.

    “Though we did not completely plug the loopholes in the fight against corruption, we did well’’, he said to the applause of members of his party. ‘’Did well’’? With what yardstick did he measure that when he did not tackle corruption frontally? Jonathan has said all we need to know about his administration and PDP. The party is not one to be trusted with the leadership of any country. We are where we are today because of its mismanagement of the economy  for 16 years (1999 – 2015). Instead of burying its head in shame for bringing the country to its lowest low, the party is thinking of coming back to power in 2019. I do not blame PDP; the fault is that of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which appears not to know what to do with power. And this is a party, which held out much hope for the country just three years ago. We are doomed as a nation if APC cannot get it right before the next election.

    APC would have shut PDP up for good if it had made the people to feel its impact in the last two years. Yes, it is fighting corruption. But governance is not all about fighting corruption alone. The masses are yearning for the betterment of their lives, a robust economy, uninterrupted power supply, good infrastructure and security of life and property. Until the APC is able to fulfil its obligation to the people, the PDP will continue to shoot its mouth and try to hoodwink Nigerians to return it to power. But, what has PDP got to offer that it did not show us in its first coming which lasted 16 years? Perhaps, it wants to return to continue the looting from where it stopped in 2015. But, is it PDP’s fault? No, it isn’t. APC has given it the munition with which to fight its way back to power.

  • Wind sowers

    SUNDAYS are celebrated in Christendom. The reason for the celebration is well known. Sunday is the day chosen by the Lord as Sabbath Day – the day He rested after creating the world. The scriptures tell us that the Lord hallows the day. Since we are created in His image, we are expected to toe that line. So, on Sundays, many churches are filled to the brim as worshippers throng them in obedience of the Lord’s command.

    In the Southeast, Catholicism holds sway. Virtually every household is a  Roman Catholic. Catholicism and mass go hand in hand. What other Christians call service is mass to Catholic faithfuls and the mass starts early. The first mass starts by 6am and by 7, 7.30am, it is all over. No matter when it holds, the church is always full. Since we have started outgrowing the fear of Boko Haram attacks on churches on Sundays, worshippers have begun to let their guards down.

    These days, they worship God without looking behind them to see if a suicide bomber is lurking around or driving through the gate. What is the point in being in church and be looking here and there because of fear of being attacked by some beast, who take the name of the Lord in vain? But unknown to the worshippers at St Philip’s Catholic Church in Ozubulu, Anambra State, last Sunday, some beast in human skin chose that day to settle a drug war score. The church was built by a drug baron for the use of his community. Since society no longer questions people’s source of wealth, the community has been using the church without asking where the donor got his money from. To him, it is sowing. But God is not unclean and so will never accept unclean things. Cleanliness, the Quran says, is next to Godliness.

    The donor is engaged in a war with another drug baron and both men have been gunning for each other’s life. They are based in South Africa, but their tentacles extend beyond that country. They have boys at their beck and call who do all sorts of job for them. These boys not only carry drugs, but also kill for their masters. The donor was at home to, as usual, flaunt his wealth and play Father Christmas. In a society where families find it difficult to make ends meet, many flocked his home for one assistance or the other. You need to see  the video of him on social media where he was spraying money as if it has gone out of fashion.

    Our love for freebies may yet be our undoing in this country. Is it poverty that has turned some people into beggars? Why do we find it hard to ask questions about how some nonentities came by their wealth? What should be the role of priests in our society? Should the men of God accept gifts from people whose source of wealth is not known? How should churches treat suspicious characters, such as drug barons, looters, robbers and kidnappers et al? Should we keep quiet about their atrocities all because they donate to the church or give hefty sum of money to pastors?

    What happened in Ozubulu has shown that we can only keep quiet over these crooks’  lifestyle at our detriment. I am sure many who did not know the donor nor ever got a kobo from him paid the supreme price when gunmen came looking for him. As the Yoruba would say, they paid for what they did not buy with their lives. The church should be the place to teach moralty and uprightness. Everything good must be taught there. But what do we see these days? We find pastors shouting from the rooftops that God loves a cheerful giver. Yes, the Good Book says so, but It does not tell us to collect money from people of shady character. If God so loved money, Jesus won’t have driven out gamblers and moneychangers from the temple with these words:

    “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves’’. Many pastors have turned churches into dens of thieves because of their love for money. By their action, they have driven away the poor from church because those people feel ashamed to attend service since they cannot give and give and give as their pastors want. These pastors have given the word shepherd a different meaning. They are supposed to look out for their sheep, but it is now the other way round. These days, the sheep must always look out for the shepherd or else they will become the butt of sermons which have no root in the scriptures. If many of our pastors have lived up to the doctrines of their calling, what happened in Ozubulu won’t have happened. It is the failure of the men of God that has brought us to this pass.

    My fear is that we may not have seen nothing. Worse things may still come if we do not change our ways. If we continue to worship money and eulogise those whose source of wealth is unknown, the Ozubulu massacre would be child’s play compared to what may happen elsewhere in future. It is sad that a drug war found its way into the house of God. This should be a time of introspection for our pastors. Where did they miss it? It is not too late for them to retrace their steps. If they had condemned what these crooks are doing and refused to touch them with a 10-foot pole, these no-gooders may have changed for good. But because they were encouraged by their pastors, who always took money from them under the guise of doing God’s work, they felt they were on the right path.

    How will any pastor feel over the killing of women and children, who were mostly the victims, in what Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano called a “gang war” brought into Ozubulu from abroad? The blood of these innocent souls will continue to cry for justice until their killer is found. The scriptures teach us to reflect on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and are of good report. But our pastors will not teach these virtues. They are only interested in money, money and money. They are unlike the Apostle Paul who knew what it was to both abound and suffer need.

    Maybe, the Ozubulu massacre will teach them to, henceforth, know what it is to be full and to be hungry. A pastor who does not know hunger can never know what his poor sheep are going through.The Ozubulu killer can only run, he can never hide. May he be brought to justice soon.

  • A rebel to the end

    A rebel to the end

    They were like Siamese twins until they parted ways in 1993. The late Chief Ganiyu Oyesola  Fawehinmi popularly known as Gani and the late Dr Olusoga Gabriel  Onagoruwa went everywhere together and did things in common. Wherever you found one, the other was not far behind. It seemed nothing could separate them because they believed in each other and fought the same cause. They were the leading radicals in a conservative profession, who served as the nation’s  conscience. They were thorns in the flesh of the military junta, which thought it could ride us.

    The late Gani and the late Onagoruwa were lawyers and they used the instrumentality of the law to fight the junta. Their friendship, it seemed, was made in heaven because the other knew what to do when one was in trouble. And the late Gani was often in trouble – you can say that again! Whenever the late Gani ran into trouble with his friends in power, the late Onagoruwa was there to file papers for his release or alternatively, to be charged to court.

    As tough as the late Gani was, he knew how to enjoy a good joke. When he laughed, his body shook and you could not but wonder, is this the same man, who was the military junta’s nemesis. They were at their best when they were together. Though they ran separate law firms, they cooperated on many cases that you would not know whose brief a particular case was. Their friendship, it appeared, was made in heaven, until the inevitable happened.

    They became estranged after the late Onagoruwa accepted to serve as the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation in the late Gen Sani Abacha regime in November 1993. The late Abacha came to power in the heat of the June 12 crisis. The late Gani and the late Onagoruwa were among those who insisted on the validation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which the late Chief M.K.O Abiola won. But the Gen Ibrahim Babangida regime annulled the election, for no reason whatsoever. The world rose to condemn the annulment, but the military junta was not moved.

    Rather than do the needful, Babangida ‘’stepped aside’’ and handed over to his hurriedly created Interim National Government (ING)  headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan, with the late Abacha strategically placed as the Minister of Defence. In no time, the late Abacha shoved Shonekan aside. Before he took over, the late Abacha had given the political elite the impression that he would hand over to the late Abiola after coming to power. When the politicians realised he had sold them a dummy, they fought back, but with the late Abacha firmly in charge, getting him out became a huge problem. But the late Abiola was determined to reclaim what he called ‘’the mandate freely given to me by the Nigerian people”.

    Apparently to silence politicians and the human rights community, the late Abacha picked his ministers from their ranks. The late Onagoruwa’s appointment as Justice Minister rattled his friends. ‘’What can Olu be doing with Abacha?’’ the late Gani wondered whenever the issue came up for discussion. ‘’I warned him not to take the job because I know the end will not be good’’. Unfortunately, that prediction came to pass. The late Onagoruwa parted ways with the late Abacha in unpalatable circumstance. As it is wont to do, the junta issued eight decrees containing ouster clauses, which abridged the people’s right to go to court and the late Onagoruwa had vowed that such won’t happen under his watch.

    He was not in the country when the decrees were released. But as soon as he returned, he disowned the decrees, saying they negated all that he stood for as a rights activist. He also directed that Turner Ogboru, who was detained over the 1990 Orka coup, be released in deference to a court order. The late Onagoruwa went into the Abacha regime to, according to him, ‘’reform’’ it as an insider and he sought the blessings of his friends, especially the late Gani, to achieve his aim. His singular courage in disowning those decrees and in ordering Ogboru’s release  is commendable.This cannot be said of many of his successors , who even under democratic dispensation, interpret court orders to suit the government’s position.

    Though, the late Onagoruwa served under a despot, he did his job conscientiously. He did not lack the courage of his conviction. I believe he put in  his best because he did not want to fail his friends. And honestly, he did not, but nobody appreciated him. With the benefit of hindsight, no minister has ever done what he did – disowning decrees and freeing a detainee in defiance of his boss’ position –  in the nation’s history,  and no minister may do it again because of the spoils of office. But he did it at a price. He was fired and his son, Toyin, who held a PhD in Law like him, was killed in front of his eyes in his Yaba, Lagos home in 1996.

    The late Onagoruwa, like every human being, was not a perfect person, but he lived up to his ideals. Like the late Gani, he was denied the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title for years. Even when he became automatically qualified for it after becoming Justice Minster in 1993, he was not given. He got it in 2014 when he had become wheelchair bound after suffering a stroke following his son’s death. In his 2006 book, ‘’A rebel in Abacha’s govt’’, the late Onagoruwa rendered account of his stewardship, but unfortunately, many never forgave him for serving in that regime despite all that he suffered after leaving office.

    No matter what, he fought a good fight, he ran his course and he kept the faith.  Chances are that he and the late Gani may reconcile in the great beyond. May he find rest in the Lord’s bosom.

  • The restructuring row

    To restructure or not to restructure? This is the juncture we are today as a nation. Everybody seems to have caught the restructuring bug. The advocates believe that it is either restructuring or nothing. The antagonists argue that there is nothing to restructure about the country, blaming our problems on leadership. Restructuring is a vexed issue; whether you are for  it or against it, it does not matter.

    We have for long run a system of  government, which concentrates power at the centre. It is not of our making as a people, but that of the military, which in its days in power, tinkered with the country the way it wanted. The military adopted the unitary form of government as it became all in all in the running of the country. It decreed things into existence without recourse to any other authority. Under the military, executive and legislative powers were collapsed into one and they were held by the head of state.

    The system, of course, brooked discontent. Those who did not find themselves in the location of power grumbled. Politicians that stick to any body or party in power, but who were not favoured agitated the most, crying that their state or ethnic group, was being marginalised. So, when people talk about restructuring, they are in one way or the other, talking about the sharing of power. Those agitating for restructuring the most today are doing so because they feel they are nowhere close to the seat of power.

    There are several strands to restructuring and each of the three old regions aligns with the strands that suit it. But the thing is Nigeria has outgrown those regions of the East, West and North, on which the power axis rotated in the 1960s. These regions were the locale of power and eminent politicians from there dominated the scene before the military interregnum. Perhaps, things might have worked out, with politicians resolving their differences on their own terms, if the military had not struck on January 15, 1966. That first coup set us back many years as a nation and we are yet to recover lost ground 51 years after.

    That coup was the foundation for the clamour of restructuring which has become a singsong in our daily life. The coup engendered bad blood in the military and it led to the July 15, 1966 counter coup, which eventually brought about the civil war. So, restructuring means different things to the  different regions. Some are for it because they believe that after the exercise, they will have the opportunity of getting into power; others are against it because they believe they will lose all the privileges they are enjoying under the present arrangement.

    What really is restructuring? Companies restructure to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. According to a management text, it is the corporate management term for the act of reorganising legal, ownership, operational and other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable or better organised for its present needs. Another said it is the fundamental internal change that alters the relationship between different components or elements of an organisation or system. Since a country could be likened to a system, is the restructuring we are talking about aimed at a fundamental internal change that will alter the relationship among the diverse elements in the country?

    We need to ponder this poser because our unity, some say, lies in our diversity. But this same unity, some have argued, is negotiable. If our unity is negotiable then our diversity will no longer be our strength. Rather, it will become an albatross because we will no more think about the larger society but about the minuscule ethnic group to which we all belong. In one word, nobody will think Nigeria again. As it happened in biblical times, everybody will lose faith in the common patrimony. The question will become : what portion have we in Nigeria, which the Herbert Macaulays, Ahmadu Bellos, Nnamdi Azikiwes and Obafemi Awolowos toiled for? May the labour of our heroes past never be in vain.  Then, people will move to their own tent, as defined by their ethnic nationalities. Is this what we want?

    There is no perfect structure anywhere in the world. What we have are organised societies, where things work with clinical precision. We want things to be like clockwork in our country too, but we cannot afford to achieve that by throwing away the baby with the bathwater. We should not misconstrue restructuring with separatism. They are not the same. We must define the kind of restructuring we want before we dabble into the venture. The separatists among us, who enjoy the support of many of their kinsmen, should be told in unequivocal terms that in as much as they are entitled to hold their position, they should do so within the ambit of the law. They are not clamouring for restructuring by preaching secession; they are breaking the law.

    There is a thin line between secession and treason and if they cross the line, the law will catch up with them. Restructuring is good to the extent that it addresses the problems of power sharing, resource control, revenue formula,  13% derivation, resource control, state police, devolution of power and true federalism. It cannot be restructuring when what some people want is just for us to go our separate ways. We went the secession route before and it did not pay us as a nation. Never again shall we go that way. Whatever may be the problem with us can be resolved through dialogue and not through swashbuckling.

  • Floods of death, destruction

    It was a tragedy foretold. Months before the rains started, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) warned that there would be flooding in most parts of the country and advised those living in flood-prone areas to relocate. Rather than heed the advice, our people as usual pretended that there was nothing to worry about. They went about their businesses with fire literally on their roofs. The Federal and state governments, which should get the people to comply, were also not forceful enough.

    Both tiers of government did not want to offend voters. This has always been our problem. We are fond of giving every issue, no matter how serious it may be, ethnic or religious or political coloration. What is tribal, political or religious about an advice that those living in flood-prone areas should move for their own safety? Why can’t the government get the people to do the needful instead of waiting until the worst has happened? Which is better – prevention or damage control?

    The truth is there is nothing to do damage control about once the harm is done. How do you bring back a person killed by flood? How do you recompense a family who lost all to flood? How do you console an aged landlord whose house and only means of livelihood is swept away by flood in the twilight of his life? How! How!! How!!! The hows are many, but suffice it to say  that we brought whatever we might be experiencing today from the floods caused by last weekend’s downpour across the country upon ourselves. Despite NIMET’s warnings, we were not prepared for the floods.

    I make this submission with heavy heart because the pictures I saw of flooded roads, houses and submerged cars were not something to smile about. They were something to cry about and I wept in my subconscious mind for my country. The floods were brought about because we did not plan in advance. We knew all along that the rainy season was coming, but we did not deem it fit to prepare for the floods which will certainly follow. We have roads without drains and where there are drains, they are blocked by wastes and pet bottles. Many homes are the same; people care less about the condition in which they live; they know little or nothing about hygiene and when you try to tell them, they pick a fight with you.

    Many will not forget in a hurry what happened last weekend in the plush neighbourhoods of Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lekki, Banana Island, Park View, Victoria Garden City and environs in Lagos as well as in the not so rich towns in Niger State, where floods wreaked havoc. Eleven persons died in Suleja near Abuja and other towns in Niger State after a five-hour rainfall. In many of these places, nobody could escape the anger of the floods. Even those living in high-rise buildings were not safe. The floods were as high as these buildings that their inhabitants sought refuge on trees.

    Can we call these floods natural or man made disasters? I will say it was man made to some extent in the sense that we have tampered with the topography of the earth, especially around the coastlines, where new towns are springing up. For sure, society will develop, but such development should not be at the expense of human lives. If we are reclaiming the ocean for societal good as we are doing around the lagoon, what measures are we putting in place to safeguard lives and properties against disasters?

    Most of the plush Lagos neighbourhoods were submerged because there were no plans for arresting floods during disasters like this. And water, we are told, must always find its level. In doing that, it will force its way through whatever lies in its path, be it house, car, wall. Nothing can stop the force of water when it is angry. This is why it is dangerous to build on water channels or block dams, canals or drains because when there is a downpour the damage can be catastrophic. Many families are still counting their losses from last weekend’s downpour. We can still save ourselves from a bigger calamity by taking the necessary precautions.

    The rains have just started. The season is expected to be with us till around October/November. To say that it will not rain again like it did last weekend will be wishful thinking. We owe ourselves the duty of safeguarding our lives. We should not wait for the government to do that for us. Let us clear our surroundings of anything that can bring about flooding, while the government takes up the larger responsibility of cleaning the drains.

    And more important, the government should ensure that reclaimed areas are free of encumbrances that could lead to flooding. Otherwise, what happened in those posh areas last weekend will be child’s play compared to what may happen if such magnitude of rain – 178 millimeters – falls again.

  • Badoo

    Things have been wrong in Ikorodu,  a town on the fringes of Lagos as you head out of the mega city for Sagamu in Ogun State, for months now. Ikorodu is one of the five divisions of Lagos and it has been part of the city for ages. It is not a new town development that should be shackled by hoodlums. But unfortunately, Ikorodu, the proud ancestral home of many topnotch Lagosians, has been in the news for all the wrong things because of a faceless group known as Badoo.

    Badoo, the name sends a chill down the spine. It evokes fear because it connotes something evil, something sinister, something bad.  Perhaps, it is a derivative of the word, bad. Since the coming of Badoo, which we have been told, is a cult group, Ikorodu has lost its serenity. People go to bed everyday in fear, uncertain whether or not they will be attacked by Badoo that usually strikes in the wee hours of the day. For sure, Badoo is not inanimate, but it wants to convey the impression that it is a spirit in order to create a larger than life image for itself.

    It is flesh and blood, but it has been capitalising on the people’s fear to wreak havoc on Ikorodu. The people of Ikorodu like to refer to themselves as masters. Ikorodu oga, they call themselves. Sadly, they have not brought this their so-called ogaship to bear on the Badoo saga. Rather, the Ikorodu ogas have been quiet, too quiet, over the matter. It is as if all is well when they are not. As a Lagos boy, I know a bit about Ikorodu. While in secondary school, we visited Ikorodu often to attend inter-house sports at Oriwu College or literary and debating contest or quiz competition. Ikorodu then was not as developed as it is today. Yet, our safety was guaranteed. There was also no fear of Badoo whenever we went to the college’s neighbouring Government Technical College at Igbogbo.

    We were innocent boys then visiting an innocent town unmindful of the tale surrounding the ancient community. Badoo has destroyed that innocence and given fillip to the myth surrounding the town. How did Badoo rear its head in Ikorodu? This is a question I have tried to answer again and again since the group surfaced from nowhere. In my subconscious mind, I have tried to surmise what could have led to its sudden emergence in a town as enlightened as Ikorodu. Ikorodu is not a backwater community where people still  live in caves and huts. No, Ikorodu passed that stage long ago even though its development may not have been as rapid as it should be. If it were, Lekki would not be standing near Ikorodu today at all.

    Yet,  that does not make it a place for a group like Badoo to thrive. But Badoo now has a foothold (is stronghold not more appropriate?) over the place. It is unbelievable that Badoo could seize Ikorodu by the throat with its prominent sons and daughters looking the other way. Badoo cannot be bigger than the Ikorodu community, except there is more to it than meets the eye. The Badoo menace has festered for too long in a town that has a monarch and chiefs. The Badoo threat is a direct challenge to the royal authority of Ikorodu. How big is Ikorodu that such a faceless group will hold it to ransom? For all we know, Badoo may be peopled by those close to the men of power and means in that town. But, why are they interested in the blood of folks just looking for means of survival?

    What is happening is not good for Ikorodu. More important, it is not good for the image of the Ayangburen, his chiefs and eminent subjects across the country. Wherever Ikorodu sons and daughters are, this is the time for them to rush back home to pool resources and find a way out of this Badoo shame. It is a big shame that Ikorodu is under the throes of the Badoo menace. If it were to be another town, it would have been understandable. But, Ikorodu? It should not be heard that in this 21st Century, a cult group held sway over Ikorodu without the Ayangburen and his chiefs being able to curtail the gang.

    It is the failure of the monarch and the police to stop the group that has led the people to defend themselves. And we all know the consequences of such action, which we are already seeing. Suspected Badoo members are being lynched by some angry residents. Indeed, in a situation like this, reasoning always takes flight. Because people act in a frenzy, their emotions will override their thinking considering what Badoo has done – killing families by smashing their skulls with mortars. Every sane person will  react the way those guys did if they ever saw the handiwork of Badoo. But, we will appeal to them to take things easy because you do not solve a crime by committing another crime.

    They should not take the law into their hands in hunting for Badoo members. Let them apprehend these people and hand them over to the police. This is the way to go and sooner than later, we will see the end of Badoo and its sponsors.

  • The Evans tale

    Since his arrest a few weeks ago, suspected kidnap kingpin Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike aka Evans has been singing like the famed canary bird. They all do anyway when the chips are down. Many had thought that Evans would be different going by all they heard about him before he fell. He is not. He has been running his mouth non-stop.

    Since interrogators are not done with him yet, Evans would continue to talk and talk. Virtually everything he has said is in the public domain, courtesy of the press. The Evans story is not one that the press comes across everyday. Such stories come once in a blue moon. The press is feasting on the story because many of the things he said he did sound incredible.

    It is more of a movie stuff than a real life story but here we are confronted with it – a true story from the pit of hell.. It is not a dream at all. If any one is dreaming, it is Evans, who was cut down to size on June 10 in his palatial home in Magodo, Lagos. Evans lived big; though a common criminal, he did not live a commoner’s life. He lived more like a drug baron. That was the dummy he wanted to sell the police. Initially,  he told his interrogators that he got the scar  on his right shoulder from gun wounds after a messy drug business. It was a lie and he knew he was lying. He told the lie because he wanted to portray himself as a man forced by circumstances to take to crime.

    Hoodlums will never admit that they embraced crime out of choice. It is the choice they made with their eyes wide open because it is a path paved with gold and silver. It is an easy route to instant wealth,  which has made many, both young and old,  to lose their bearings in life. Crime may give wealth, stupendous wealth, but it will never last. Be it robbery, kidnapping, militancy, swindling aka 419, or money making rituals, it is only a matter of time before the bubble bursts. But while the money is rolling in, the criminal feels on top of the world. He sees himself as the master of his environment. Tell me, which kind of job will fetch someone millions instantly if it is not  shady?

    Criminals know that they will pay the ultimate price when they are caught, yet they are not deterred. The easy money they get has blindfolded them to the point that they are not bothered by the consequences of their actions, which they know too well. In the end, they want to be pitied. The pity they did not have on their victims they want the law to show them when they are caught.

    Evans is not different from the others. Whatever he says today will be to save his neck. He was a terror through and through who had his hands in everything bad. You name it, he was involved – drug trafficking, robbery and kidnapping. And he was never far from the bad guys – militants from whom he got his weapons and native doctors who made charms for him. The Evans story is however deeper than that. When we look at the calibre of his victims and those who assisted him, we will see that something is wrong somewhere.

    Most of his victims were businessmen from the Southeast and the Southsouth whose business integrity cannot be vouched for. Evans, it seems, deliberately chose them because he knew they had something to hide. It takes a criminal to know a criminal. He got good information on them before kidnapping them. And once they are in his hands, he sucks them to the last dollar before releasing them. These people pay quietly without fuss, thereby emboldening him to go after others. Some may wont to ask : if you are in their shoes, what would you have done? Truly, it is not easy to dare a kidnapper especially if you can pay the ransom. But what stops you from alerting the police after such payment?

    By keeping quiet, these victims turned Evans into a demi-god and he cashed in on their fears to keep on terrorising them. He was so sure of himself that he collected ransom twice from a victim. He first collected $1million and another $200,000 from the man. His collaborators were something else. As providers of information on the victims, they got a huge share of the ransom. According to Evans, he takes 40 percent of the ransom,  while 60 percent goes to “owners of the money”. Who are these owners? These are the people the police should go after immediately. As long as these people are free, the society is not safe. Kidnapping will continue to thrive and another kingpin, bolder and more brutal than Evans, may emerge.

    Evans did not operate in a vacuum. He had dens where he kept his victims and these dens were manned by his trusted aides. But these dens were on streets where people live. Mind you, these dens were not in isolated areas. They were in densely populated neighbourhoods like Igando, Isolo and Egbeda. Yet, his victims were taken to these places without people  living in those neighbourhoods knowing anything. It may be possible for one or two people not to know what is happening in their neighbourhoods, but it is impossible for everybody there not to know what is going on. What is the essence of being neighbours if we do not know what some people living in our areas are up to?

    In Evans case, his neighbours should have become alerted to what is happening because of the noise of music coming from his dens daily. What could he be celebrating behind the walls everyday that he will be disturbing others with music? If we do not take note of things like this, our society will never be safe. In those neighbourhoods, I am certain that some people may have complained of noise coming from mosques and churches, but they did not see anything wrong in the noise coming from those dens. We failed as a people to stop Evans earlier than now. The security agencies, the Neighbourhood Watch Corps and the public must take the blame for the rise of Evans.

    With his fall, we should resolve that never again will we allow evil to flourish around us. May Evans get his just deserts.

  • Where are the elders?

    In traditional African setting, elders held a prime position. They were the conscience of their society and whatever they said was law. It will be an understatement to say that they were revered. They were next to the traditional ruler, who relied on their wisdom in running his domain. When the monarch held court, he was surrounded by elders who constituted members of his cabinet. It was a pride to be an elder then because of the respect for such people.

    It is still a pride to be an elder even in the kind of rotten society we are today. When elders are around, things are not supposed to go wrong. Their presence is expected to reassure the people that yes, no matter what, we have men and women that will set us on the right path. To become an elder is not a day’s job. One attains that status with age and with age is expected to come wisdom with which to guide the youths. Mind you, it is the child of today that becomes the elder of tomorrow. So, every elder today was a youth yesterday.

    So, what excites  the youth of today should not be new to an elder, who must have gone through such in the past. What a youth considers an adventure cannot be strange or new to an elder, who is more experienced about life. Of course, a youth can have many clothes, but he cannot have more rags than an elder whose eyes have sunk in because of the vicissitudes of life. An elder having seen a lot in his lifetime is expected to help the youth to avoid the mistakes he made while young. Thus, an elder who has witnessed war is expected to call the youth to order when walking that path.

    In the past few weeks, our country has been under tension because of the  threats by some Northern and South East youths. It all started with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) calling for a sit-at-home last May 30 to mark the 50th anniversary of the defunct Biafra Republic. Before then, IPOB, the Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Biafra Independent Movement (BIM), among others, had been in the forefront of groups seeking to resuscitate Biafra. The Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB has taken its campaign worldwide, setting up Radio Biafra in London to propagate its cause. The group led the observation of last month’s sit-at-home, which paralysed activities in the east.

    In response to its order, the Coalition of National Youths (CNY) aka Arewa youths gave the Igbo in the north up till October 1 to leave. The threats of secession and the ultimatum are one and the same thing – agitations to break up the country. No matter how you look at it, there is no way the threat to expel the Igbo from the east if they do not leave by October 1 will not cause chaos and there is also no way that the country will remain intact if IPOB should get the east to secede. Unfortunately, all this is happening right under the nose of Northern and South East leaders. If youths are behaving like youths, elders are not expected to behave as such. Being elders, they should know the implication of what these youths are doing and promptly step in to stop them from playing with fire.

    Yes, these boys are toying with fire and painfully, many elders who witnessed the civil war (1967 – 1970) are keeping quiet. We cannot afford to go to war over any mundane issue. Whatever it is that IPOB, MASSOB, BIM and all other groups agitating for Biafra want can be ironed out at a round table. What is more, they have people in the Senate and the House of Representatives who can take up their cause. There is no issue too big that cannot be discussed. Even wars are settled at round-table talks. We must condemn all these actions aimed at setting us back several years before they blow out of proportion and this is where the elders come in.

    Through their criminal silence, our elders have tacitly supported the actions of these youths. It is morally wrong. What kind of leadership are they providing if they cannot call these guys to order? Or are they afraid of them? An elder worth the name will not sit back and allow things go awry in the twilight of his life. What memory will he go to his grave with? That of a disintegrated Nigeria? God forbid. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo put the blame where it belonged when he met with some South East elders at the Villa last Wednesday. The elders, he noted, have been too quiet over this matter. I concur, sir. Some of them, to the shock of many, even came out to support what these boys are doing.

    To these elders, I say, what is bad is bad and we should collectively say so, so that these boys do not plunge us into another bitter war. What do they even know about war? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The elders should educate them that war is a bitter enterprise which beginning we know but which end is beyond anybody’s comprehension. As the Acting President told his guests in Abuja, elders should always speak out against what is wrong because “violence pays no one.

    “Violence and war are not going to do anyone any good. Wars today hardly end. No one who has seen the face of wars even on television will wish it for anyone. We shouldn’t tolerate hate speeches or divisive comments.” These are immortal words and they will keep ringing in our ears.

  • One Nigeria

    E WENT DOWN this road 50 years ago following the secession of the east from Nigeria. But since the 1967 debacle, which led to the civil war, we have learnt to manage our differences, though with hiccups here and there. For years, the Southsouth, the northern minority and other ethnic nationalities which feel shortchanged by the system have been crying of marginalisation. Despite misgivings about their agitations in some quarters,  they have been careful to pursue their cause without seeking to break away from the entity.

    But, painfully, not so the cause for Biafra. The Southeast youths now agitating for Biafra do not seem to know what their forebears went through in the first coming of that putative republic. Biafra was an accident of history. It was a republic born in a hurry because its promoter,  the late Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, saw it as the only way to get what he wanted for his people. Biafra did not enjoy the support of many prominent easterners, who refused to be led by the nose by Ojukwu, but it enjoyed the support of those (many of them unenlightened)  who saw in Ojukwu a saviour.

    Biafra was bound to fail with or without a war. As much as Biafra was dear to Ojukwu, he knew that its fall after the war was the end of the matter. That was why he accepted fate and moved on with his life after the botched venture. But those who see him as an hero and want to build on that shaky foundation would not allow the ghost of Biafra to rest. They have been doing all they can to exhume the Biafran ghost and set the nation back another 50 years.

    Some of these campaigns did not start today. They started in the lifetime of Ojukwu whose support some of them sought in order to win the hearts of their fellow Igbo. The Biafra agitators knew that by linking him with their cause, their job is half done. Ojukwu, ever his ‘people’s general’, did not drive them away. He gave them his blessings and even took Raph Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) under his wing.

    But, Uwazuruike misunderstood him. He went to town, claiming that the  ‘great Ojukwu’ has anointed him as the one to ‘’lead our people to the promised land of Biafra’’. Besides Uwazuruike’s group, others have also emerged to pursue the same cause. The most prominent of these groups are the Biafra Independent Movement (BIM) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). In the last three years or so,  the Nnamdi Kanu – led IPOB has stolen the show from others. IPOB is today the ears, eyes and mouth of the Biafran cause. The groups are today at war over  which of them is the authentic voice of this cause.

    Their leaders level accusations against one another at will at the detriment of their common cause. Tell me, how can the new Biafra be born in an atmosphere of fear, rancour and mistrust among leaders of its agitating groups? The much they can achieve is to get people to close their shops and sit-at-home to mark the anniversary of Biafra, which was declared on May 30, 1967, by the late Ojukwu. The celebration of its 50th anniversary last May 30, however,  touched the raw nerves of some Northern youths, who virtually declared war on them on June 6.

    Under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY), the group gave South easterners in the north 90 days to leave the region. The demand, it said, was necessitated by the IPOB sit-at-home order which paralysed socio-economic activities in major cities and towns of the South east last May 30. The Federal Government and the Northern governors have since condemned the youths’ statement. Indeed, the statement is uncalled for.

    IPOB did not break any law by calling on easterners to sit-at-home on May 30. If it likes it can ask them to sit at home for eternity as long as it does not  force them to comply. Only those who wished sat at home. Nobody was forced to sit at home if he did not want to. But that is looking at it superficially. We all know how some of these amorphous groups operate and the coercive powers they wield. We know what they can do to get people to comply with their directives. Having said that, this does not in any way give any other group power to expel any ethnic nationality from one part of the country or the other.

    CNY did not think it through
    before issuing that ultima
    tum. As long as there are groups within a society, there will always be agitations. No group will like to admit that it is getting much from the society even where it is in power. It will always want more and that at the expense of those at the receiving end. The Igbo may have a case, but its youths must learn how to fight for a cause. IPOB cannot adopt the same tactics used by Ojukwu in the 60s to fight the same cause in these present times. IPOB should change tactics if it wishes to achieve results. Our unity is non-negotiable. We can restructure the federation if we wish, but we should avoid disintegration because that in the long run will not pay us as a nation. We should learn from the balkanisation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

    Our unity lies in our diversity and as they say, there is unity in strength. It is unfortunate that some eminent members of the society from the north and the southeast are backing their own. This is no time to play ethnic politics. At stake is our country and what we stand for as a nation. Let us, therefore, be united in condemning the activities of  CNY and IPOB wherever they threaten to destroy the social fabric.